Travellers bear brunt of biometric costs

Holidaymakers and British travellers are to bear the brunt of the government's plan to introduce biometric passports, it was revealed this week.

Having already raised the cost of buying a new passport by 20 per cent last December, it was announced on Tuesday that price of a passport is to be increased by another 29 per cent.

From October 2006 it will cost the British traveller £66 to get a new passport, a change which many believe has been instigated to cover the costs of the government's identity card programme.

The government claimed that price hikes are to cover the inclusion of new fraud-proof measures such as microchips which contain digital photographs, as well as enhanced background checks.

Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: "This sharp price increase will come as a shock to many holidaymakers this summer.

"Many people will simply not understand why they are having to pay for the government's own decision to gather biometric details for ID cards for each and every one of us."

Since their introduction in March, over a million biometric passports have been issued to people around Britain, the Evening Standard reports.

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